Car Bed Magic and Musical Chairs!!!

Ethan's almost three years old and we've have had him in a crib since he was a baby. Being the careful boy that he is, he's never once tried to crawl out so I figured it was best to keep him behind bars as long as he would stay there! With the baby sister coming end of November/beginning of December, I knew some changes needed to happen with Ethan's sleeping habits. So I started looking for a new 'fart sack' for Ethan (as Daddy calls it).

I happened upon this Little Tikes car bed on craigslist. Gently used, complete with Cars Movie bedding, and matress for $65. What a steal it has turned out to be! Ethan tells anyone who will listen about his cool car bed. Not only does he sleep in it, but he also uses it as a trampoline/jungle gym. It has proven to be a hit!

On a side note, we've been playing musical chairs with the rooms in our house these past few weeks. All rooms/closets have been gutted. We sold a couch, treadmill, and dining room set on craiglist (what a gem). So now the baby will be in Ethan's room, Ethan is in the office, the office is in the dining room, and the dining room is obsolete since we NEVER used it anyway! So with the extra money we have from selling things, we are finally going to fix our golf ball hole masacred windows. Yay! I have to give a shout out to my mommy for coming over yestderday and spending 5 hours with me decluttering and organizing. She's such a trooper.

In other news, Barbie escaped this evening for a few hours to romp the neighborhood/golfcourse. I came home to our front door ajar and we drove the streets yelling her name and whistling. Ethan had fun 'pretent whistling' to try and help. We were sad to come home dogless. Then I parked my chair in the front yard for a few minutes and out of the corner of my eye I saw her mosying up the sidewalk. She'd been doing who knows what on the golf course for a few hours. She came home looking a little roughed up and was missing her collar. It was a happy reunion! I missed her more than I thought I would if something like that happened. She's very tired now. If it weren't for her breathing, I'd think she was dead.

I woke up this morning feeling like 'All is good" and I think that's how the day will end. :)

Leaving public access behind... (going private)

Hello,

I'm going private soon. I've sent an email to those of you whom I have your email addresses. Otherwise, please send me an email to huntsnlove at hotmail dot com if you'd like to be added to my blog.

After reading this blog post: http://www.brookemartin.blogspot.com/ I feel that, if nothing else, I can do my part to stop the pervs from taking my own innocent photos and turning them into something gross!

Thanks all, for your cooperation!

Ashley

First of many firsts!

Okay so I know Ethan has already had several other firsts! The first time he walked, talked, ate solid foods, pooped on the potty, ect! BUT today seemed like one of those big time 'firsts'! One of the first 'firsts' of his journey to being a big boy!

We've been talking about it with him a lot. We even picked out the coolest backpack ever with Lightning McQueen on it! I've known it was time for a few months now since he's been so interested in learning his letters and numbers. We spent the morning getting 'dapper' for the big day. Then when I dropped him off, he had tears, and so did I. I didn't expect that for preschool.

He had a great day! When I went to pick him up he was learning a new song and I felt so much joy! He's a big boy now. I hope the moments don't pass too quickly!!

You've got to giggle!

These are a few things that Ethan's imagination has cooked up over the past few months. There's so many more of these little gems, so as I think I them I will try to record them. Some day, when Ethan is big boy, I hope we can get a kick out of thinking back on these days!

Kitty Shaver: This creature has long feet, long tail, long beak, long sharp teeth, it has dots on it, and it comes in your room and shaves your back when it gets hairy. Ethan came up with this one day, we have no idea where it came from, but even during his turn to say prayers he often whispers, 'bless the kitty shaver."

The Duck: One morning Ethan wakes up hysterically crying. I run in there and ask him what's wrong, once he composes himself he tells me there's a ducky in his room and it's making the sound, "raaaaaaaaar, reeeeeeeer, raaaaaaaaar, reeeeeeeeer." So I sat in there, comforting him, listening for the sound, nothing. I tried to calm him down telling him "there's no ducky." He just kept insisting that there was a ducky gonna get him. So I brought him in to see daddy and went back into his room. Finally I heard it. His fan that we have had in there since his birth was on it's last leg and randomly made the 'ducky' sound. I showed Ethan the fan and tried to explain to him that the fan is broken and that's where the sound was coming from. Ethan still had a hard time believing that there was no ducky. A few hours later Joe took him to Target to get a new fan, and we threw the old one in the garbage can and that seemed to help ease Ethan. Weeks later, he still loves to tell the story of the ducky in his room. He always starts with, "Once upon a time..."

Hows your 'birth'day goin? Well we're definately into the question stage at 2 1/2 years old. For a long time the broken record question that Ethan would ask is, "what are you doing?" Well that got old after a while so then one day he started asking, "how's you're birthday going?" For I while I went a long with it, but finally Joe and I had to tell him to ask, 'How's your day going?" because it wasn't anyone's birthday that day. So now the repeated question is, "How's your day going?" He asks all day long. He asks strangers while we're out and about too. It's so fun to know he cares!

Stomping Alligator: This one remains a mystery. I was having a shower while Ethan watched cartoons in our bedroom, and when I got out he insisted that there was an alligator in our house. I asked him where it was and he pointed outside of the closed door. I asked him if he saw the alligator and he proceeded to show me how he heard stomping on the floor, and it was an alligator stomping. He wanted me carry him around the house for the next hour or so...

Owl down the street: Our neighbors down the street have placed a plastic owl on their window's ledge to scare away the birds from pooping on their house. One day, while Ethan and I were on a walk, I pointed it out to Ethan and told him why that owl is that their house. He insists it's a real owl though. Well knowing Ethan's past, he has a real fear of owls ever since he saw one in a cave on his favorite show, "Go Diego Go". But as he's gotten older, he has more of an admiration for them. He's even perfected the sound they make by rolling his tongue. So now, when we drive by the owl, we have to slow to a stop and let Ethan tell us why the owl is there. He feels so proud of himself!

Monkey Brushes: One of Ethan's most memorable experiences was the first time he went to the carwash with daddy. He was absolutely terrified and talked about it for weeks. After freaking the child out many times following that, Joe decided to take Ethan to the "blue" car wash instead of the 'red' one. What a difference that made! Ethan came home and told me that there we're silly 'monkey brushes' at the 'blue' car wash, and that they go round and round, and he giggled while he talked about it. For weeks he couldn't resist telling everyone he ran into about the 'monkey brushes'. Now he likes to have deep conversations with Joe and I about how he likes the 'blue' car wash better than the 'red' carwash. He begs daddy to take him every day, and Joe looks forward to taking him on the weekends.